More than 24,000 full-time jobs a year would be created in Western Australia under the Greens plan to rapidly transform Australia’s energy system to renewables by 2030.

Greens Leader, Senator Richard Di Natale said:

"Coal is the world’s biggest cause of climate change and Australia is the world’s biggest exporter of coal with 80 per cent of what we dig up being sent overseas to be burned. Unless we phase out coal, we can’t deal with climate change.

“The failure of the Liberal Government to deal with this critical issue is a clear failure of leadership and it is time to turf this mob out. However, unless you have Greens like Jordon Steele-John in the Senate to hold a future Labor Government to account, we have no guarantee that there will be a managed transition to clean energy that delivers the renewable jobs that Western Australia deserves.

“Western Australia needs and deserves real, lasting jobs – not fake jobs and false promises like those made by Adani - which our Renew Australia 2030 plan will deliver.”

“Young people are taking action and demanding our politicians come up with a genuine plan to tackle climate change. What the Greens are announcing here today in WA is just that; an immediate plan to transition away from coal and drive Australia towards zero-net emissions by 2040.“We’ll build a clean energy export industry to replace the dying coal industry which will create thousands of jobs right here in Western Australia. Our fully-costed plan will take our energy system from one of the oldest and dirtiest in the world, to one of the cleanest and smartest.“We’ll support coal workers and their communities – like those in Collie - with a $1billion transition fund to ensure no West Australian is left behind. Our plan will also lower energy costs for households and businesses and drive fossil fuels out of the economy.“Right now, giant, multinational coal and gas companies are extracting our resources for free, polluting local environments and paying no tax. They get away with it because the Liberal and Labor governments take their dirty political donations - $5million over the last four years - and then do their bidding at the expense of everyone else and the planet.“The world economy is changing and it’s time to turf the coal huggers out and for Australia to become the renewable energy super power the global market is ready for.”

Our ‘Renew WA’ plan includes:

100% renewables by 2030 including support for households, and the establishment of renewable energy zones;

180,000 new jobs nationally, including 24,167 jobs in WA;

A $1billion national fund to help transition workers out of WA’s coal industry – based in Collie & Esperance – into these sustainable new jobs;

The building of a renewable energy export industry based largely in Northern WA to take advantage of existing infrastructure and the incredible natural wind and solar resources, to export directly to Asia;

Doubling energy productivity and a reduction in pollution across the economy driven by industry programs, an energy efficiency target and a carbon price;

A shift to electric cars with the phase out of new petrol car sales; and